Fort Worth weekly gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-06-10
THE COMING COUNTRY.
A CoHeisely Put Description Of the
Most Promising Territory in
The Great Vest
TIE Lands, tho Dimensions, ahe Pop9I n
ton, Prospects, Counties and Towns OF
the Panhandle OF Texas.
TascOsa Pioneer.

probabilities and prospects of the coun
try which is just beginning to draw :
share of public attention-the country
which is little known but muci
wondered about-the country whicl
it is dimlY thought must have
some promise since the railroad:
find it so attractive-this interest in this
country has found q thousand methods Of
expression. One 10 which individual at
tentiOn here has been and is being contiu-
uaily called,is the numerous letters Of in
quiry which come to almost every citlZeu
by almost every mail, from one ana all
directions. They embrace sn endless va
riety OF questions, IS they express the
curiosity of men of different pursuits
and different circumstances, rich men
and poor men, spectators, merchants.
nome seekers, who are already possessed
of g tair competence TO begin the
battle with, and men Of families
who have nc capital but strong arms and
brave hearts. They may want to know
the terms upon which town property can
be had, and the prospects of an increase
in its value; they may want to find out
about the chances of securing 8 nome
stead, improved or unimproved; they
may ask for the opening for a merchant
in this or some neighboripg town; they
will inquire whether Tsscosa is sure OF
| @ railroad, or more than one railroad,
Whist is the population Of the town and
county, where is the most farm
! ing done and how much farming,
where is the richest soil and
how good is the best for farming
! purposes. does the drOuth Of ordinary sea
! sons not stand IS q barrier to agriculture,
what crops will grow, if any, how good
or bad is your societ2, is law enforced,
will the Cattlemen and the officers allow
! settlers to come in, what railroads point
| towards this or that quarter and where
| will the road cross, what interests are
represented so far and who owns the
lands, what can man do with q small
! bunch OF cattle or Otler stock, what
wages prevail, how about schools and
churches, how does fruit grow or prom
Use to grow, and what kind Of fruit, is
the valley or plains Iand the
most promising, will not your
bridge over the Canadian river
make yours & permanent town in spite of
all else, would land agent not find an
immense business in the near future in
any portion of the Panhandle; and letters
generally close with wish for call adj
ditional information you can give me-"
To answer all these questions and numer-
Gus others asked Is something of an
heroic undertaking, but 8 description
which replies to some Of them and ig-
nores others as unimpOrtant is not salts
factory to the reader nor calculated to
answer the purpose but poorly II any
sense.
The Panhandle is composed of the fol-
lowing twenty-seven counties, Wis: Dal-
lam, Sherman, HsEsford, OchiltIee, Lips
comb, Hartley, Moore, Hutchinson,
Roberts, Hempnill, Oldham, Potter, Csr-
son, Gray, Wheeler, Deaf Smith, Randall,
Armstrong, Donley, Collingsworth,
Greer, Farmer, Castro, SWisher, BriscO,
Hall and Childress, and has total area
of about II, 900 square miles, which means
something near 100000 acres. OF al
these counties Of the Panhandle but five
are organized: Oldham, Wheeler, DOnley,
Greer and Childress; the others are at
tached to these for lan.1 and judicial
purposes. In all there are but three
important towns in three of the organ
lied counties: TascOsa in Oldham Coun-
ty, M0beetie in Wheeler, Clarendon in
DOnley; there is q newspaper IN each Of
these three towns, and & fourth at Lips
comb. There are such towns Just spring
ing up as Lipscomb in Lipscomb county,
Mangum, in Greer county, Chjldress and
Henry in ChildreSS county, Ochiltree in
Ochiltree county, and at the crossing of
the Fort Worth end Denver Railway ON
Red river and Of the Southern Kansas On
the Canadian. In addition to these
places above named the estab-
lished postofiices of the Panhandle
are Zulu in Hansford county, Fort
Elliott IN Wheeler county, Paloduro in
Armstrong, and one or two other boxes
of no responsibility nor much conse-
quenCe. Other Offices will be established,
it is probable, during the year, where the
needs Of the neighborhOOds are begin
ming to demand them. There will be OBJ
served by those VINO inspect the current
maps Of the Panhandle certain towns or
offices marked on the Canadian river
above and below TasCOsa, which are cal
cClGted to mislead in 8 measure. Such |
places as TrygillO, Lathrop, Hays, Win |
dom, Adobe and one or two more never |
existed.
The cophguration of the country is |
most romantic and indicates its healthful- |
ness. The Panhandle IS mostly an elevs-
ted plains country, dotted by thousands !
of lakes which do Got hold out, however,
through the d:outh; coursed by the Can
adian AID its numerous small tributaries
through the northern part, and Red river
and its tributaries across the south, and |
lntersected by occasional deep canyons.
The plains are the most elevated portions
and ere quite level. Water is not often
found On these plains only in wet
seasons, when the lakes contain
il; but recent experiments have
supplied it in e few places both
by digging down some distance AID
by putting in tanks. Timber is equally
scarce with the water supply, or even
more so, both on the plains and through
out the Panhandle. The principal kinds
found are cedar, cottonwood and mes
quite bushes; the mesquite grows on the
level prairies, tine cedar among the brakes
beside the water courses, and the cotton
wood in the river and creek valleys. a
good deal Of the tlre-Wood used by the
people who live adjacent TO the large
streams is the drift carried down during
nigh water.
Perhaps nobody who has heard OF our
Panhandle at all is ignorant that from
he days OF the Indians 20 the present
has been and i get the
principal, almost the only, occupation of
he people. There are'perlapS not less
han 1000, geo head Of live stock, cattle,
lOrses and sheep, in the tWenty-seven
Panhandle counties, and the taxable yalU-
!tion of properties runs up TO the nei&Se4i
)orhood of 100000 or $4,000, 900. "a
,reat share of the land of this section fat
he Texas school land: of the 80, 600 00Gk